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HYDERABAD: Expressing displeasure at the authorities for not implementing the provisions of Right to Education Act properly, a division bench of the High Court on Tuesday directed the AP and TS government authorities concerned to file counter affidavits, explaining the steps taken by them for enforcement of the Act.

The bench of acting chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice K Vijaya Lakshmi was dealing with a taken-up PIL case based on a letter written by Y Thippa Reddy, an advocate from Wanaparthy district in Telangana, seeking directions to the two Telugu-speaking states for effective implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 which came into effect on April 1, 2010.

Thippa Reddy, in his letter addressed to the court, stated that as per Article 45 of the Constitution the state has to provide free and compulsory education to all the children of the country till 14 years of age. The court suo motu treated the letter as a PIL and clubbed it with a pending PIL filed by T Yogesh, a law student from Visakhapatnam, with regard to implementation of 25 per cent quota for free education up to Class VIII as laid down in the RTE Act, in both the states. On Tuesday, Yogesh told the court that at least 25 per cent reservation should be provided to children belonging to Economically Weaker Sections in all unaided schools in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

As per Section 18, all private schools should get recognition but many of them are violating this rule. Private schools have to collect the fee fixed by the government and they should put on their websites details pertaining to faculty, fee and so on. The district education officer should be informed about the students admitted under the 25 per cent quota meant for poor students. However, the private schools managements were not adhering to these stipulations, he pointed out. He told the court that there were several private schools in AP belonging to a state minister.

When the courts granted stay on the GOs issued for implementation of the Act in schools the government did not make any effort for vacation of such stay. He alleged that the private managements hade colluded with officials. The governments have been neglecting the primary education which was the foundation for the children’s future. On the other hand, the governments were giving top priority to paying reimbursement fee, he added.

The counsel for AP submitted that students were showing interest to study at private institutions when governments reimbursed the fees and apprehended closure of government schools.